Exclusive shots of Goschy's prototype "Wiimote" controllers

"So, we got some more information from Patrick Goschy so he could set his story straight, and were surprised to learn he still had the original prototype controller! According to Goschy, he really has no plans -- or venue -- to sue Nintendo, since Midway owned all of his patents, and as far as he can tell, Nintendo bought the patents from Midway, since Nintendo references one of the patents in its application for the Wiimote.

Apparently he just wants the recognition: "I just wanted people to know. Wanted the truth to come out. Did this 8 years ago, and the Wii has been such a huge deal, I wanted the truth to get out there. It wasn't these two or three Japanese guys that came up with this thing." His guess is that Nintendo saw the video demo he did -- which was seen by hundreds of employees of Midway -- and probably paid a pittance for the technology, thanks to Midway's mismanagement."

I don't think a lawsuit is justified, and indeed, none has been filed, but give the guy a break. It was an early prototype likely designed with a limited number of games in mind. Who knows what form a final product would have taken. I think he did a great job--if we had seen this 7 or 8 years ago we all would have been drooling.

Of course, the real problem with add-on peripherals is that they never get much game support. Not only including, but offering the Wiimote as the exlcusive controller for the Wii was a ballsy move by Nintendo, and it paid off.